Thursday, 27 December 2012

On Monday, this blog reported on the publication, on the website of the European Union's Official Journal, of the EU's trade agreement with Peru and Colombia. The post commented on its vast length at 2,605 pages. Well, that massive pagination has already been exceeded. The EU's Official has now also published the full text of the Agreement establishing an Association between the European Union and its Member States, on the one hand, and Central America on the other -- and that's 2,618 pages long, not counting a further two and a half page Protocol on Cultural Cooperation. Again, it contains plenty of references to intellectual property rights and geographical indications.

What country is "Central America", you may be wondering. Well, it is defined for the purposes of the Agreement as the Republics of Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua and Panama -- but not Belize -- and naturally not Mexico since that country migrated from Central America to North America, but that's another story.

Wednesday, 26 December 2012

The most recent issue of the Trademark Reporter (that's November-December, 2012 Vol. 102 No. 6), published by the International Trademark Associaton (INTA) for its members, contains an article of great relevance to one of Latin America's most active and vibrant economies. "Trademarks and Due Diligence for Mergers and Acquisitions in Brazil", by Paula Mena Barreto Pinheiro, addresses the most important issues involved in due diligence specifically involving trade marks, as well as certain country-specific considerations that should be taken into account whenever acquiring or merging with a company in Brazil. Given the amount of corporate and transactional activity that can be expected in Brazil in the run-up to the major international sporting events Brazil is hosting in the next few years, this article may be subjected to a good deal of attention.

Monday, 24 December 2012

If you are desperately looking for some reading material this Christmas, look no further than the Trade Agreement between the European Union and its Member States, of the one part, and Colombia and Peru, of the other part, the text of which has just been posted on the website of the Official Journal of the European Union. Inclusive of Annexes and declarations, it's a mere 2,605 pages long.

The term "intellectual property" appears 45 times, but that's not as many times as "geographic indications", which are mentioned 65 times. In contrast, "patent" gets 19 plugs and "copyright" just 17.

Tuesday, 18 December 2012

The Brazilian Instituto Nacional da Propriedade Industrial (INPI) reports the official visit to France of Mrs Dilma Rousseff, President of Brazil. The Brazilian President handed to her French counterpart, President François Hollande, the Certificate of Designation of Origin (DO) for sparkling wines produced in the Champagne region.
The document was issued the 11th of December by INPI’s President, Jorge Ávila. It is said that the certificate was the result of 5 years co-operation between INPI France and INPI Brazil as well as the Committee Interprofessionnel du Vin de Champagne (CIVC).
The French President said that this recognition 'was an honour for the French ' and acknowledged Brazil’s improvement in relation to the protection of geographical indication (GI).

Moreover, the director of INPI France encouraged French producers to obtain legal protection of their GI in Brazil stating that the two offices are “highly engaged in the development of cooperation between the two countries to boost growth and mutual respect of interests”. On the other hand, INPI’s Brazil president said that the Brazilian cultural diversity has “immense potential of geographical indications and designations of origin. We have worked hard to spread among domestic producers to use this system as a national economic asset”.

Monday, 17 December 2012

From Mexico comes the news that an electoral counselor, Blanca Castaneyra Chavez accused her coauthor, Dominguez Gudini, of plagiarizing an article that they wrote together and was published in the magazine ‘Diurna’.
The article, entitled ‘The socioeconomic factor at the top of campaigns: cheaper elections’ published in a magazine which is edited by the Consejo General del Instituto Electoral Veracruzano (IEV) (General Council Electoral Institute of Veracruz), was used by Dominguez Gudini to be published in a compendium of electoral law procedure of the Ministry of Interior.

Mr Dominguez has apologized and explained the following: I was “invited by the Secretary of the Interior to conduct a publication ... in no time I claim that experience like mine, it's like someone writing on constitutional law and says he wrote the constitution. As a matter of a personal nature I do not like to quote myself”.

For the compendium the title was changed to: ‘Governor’s funding and control of campaigns, the Veracruz experience’. The text was attributed to only Mr Dominguez.

Castaneyra Chavez lamented the fact and said she will proceed legally against Mr Dominguez. She explains that the material which was published in the magazine Diurna was owned by IEV and that Mr Dominguez should have cited the source of the text used and should have given credit to the co-author.

Well, I guess this is not the first time this type of issue happens – not that they are normal! What captures my attention is Mr Dominguez statement that he does not like to quote himself…what about given the credit to his co-author then?
The info comes from the newspaper ‘El Universal’ and so, there is not much detail of the grounds of the to-be case. We could speculate that it will be IEV the one that brings the proceedings, as the owner of the publication; and the author could bring also proceeding but in that case would be under moral rights ie paternity rights.

Friday, 30 November 2012

Another news from Brazil, and in the same line as two days ago, the Brazilian Instituto Nacional da Propriedade Industrial (INPI) granted a Geographical Indication (GI) in the form of indication of source (Indicação de Procedência) to ‘biscoitos de São Tiago’.

The traditional biscuits are from the Region Campo das Vertentes in Minas Gerais and this application was made on August 23, 2011 (posted here). Request was made by the Associação São-Tiaguense (formed by 23 members) and aided by the Centre for Technological Innovation (NIT) from the Federal University of São João del Rei (UFSJ) and supported by the Foundation for Research and Support of Minas Gerais (FAPEMIG). The city became known for its biscuits that were offered to visitors on hostels farms and it is nowadays recognized as 'A Terra do Café com Biscoito' -- the tradition has extended and the city always holds a ‘Coffee with Biscuit Party’ early September receiving more that 50,000 visitors.

The applicants now have 60 days to pay the fee and a certificate will be issued, finishing the registration process.

Wednesday, 28 November 2012

From the Brazilian Instituto Nacional da Propiedad Industriale (INPI) we receive news that a service has been granted a Geographical Indication (GI).

On November 27th INPI announced granting GI to services to ‘Porto Digital’ (located in Recife, capital of the State of Pernambuco, Brazil). It becomes the first GI granted to a service in Brazil and now the representatives do have 60 days to pay the prescribed fee and a certificate will be issued, finishing the registration process.

The service entails the climate for innovation that is seen in Pernambuco. It involves the promotion of economic and social changes that institutions, companies, universities and government have been encouraging in the last decades. This has increased the income and employment in the fields of ‘IT and creative economy’.

In this regards, three issues may be brought:

GI for a service: The protection of GI is usually granted to goods/products (not only agricultural products but also handicraft). The Paris Convention, the Lisbon and Madrid Agreements as well as the TRIPS Agreement refer to ‘all products’. Majority of countries grant protection to products meaning only goods, tangible things. Here we notice that the scope of application of the Brazilian Law is more extensive than the scope of the EU system for example, as it applies to services as well. The word ‘product’ then refers as in its full meaning -- coming from the Latin prōductum (something). In fact, there are other countries that grant GI protection to services such as Azerbaijan, Croatia, and Singapore – and now we know that Brazil too.

Definition of GI: Now discussing the issue of what is a GI we notice that it identifies a particular product (in this case a service) as originating from a particular territory because of its quality, reputation and/or characteristic, in other words, its essence –intrinsic to the place. Now, for the information provided by INPI I do not see what makes this service dissimilar from any other project that encourages innovation. What do they have (i.e. characteristic/quality)? And thus, what is the link between the service and the place? The service has the say qualities/reputation because of its place of origin [I am afraid I do not see it]. The only matter that I could find was the actual statement made by ‘Porto Digital’ explaining that they are “ a technological development project that aggregates public investments, private initiative and universities, aiming at the domestic and foreign markets... comprises an innovation system”. This brings my third query.

GI to a non-geographical territory As perhaps you already spotted, ‘Porto Digital’ is not an actual name of a place. We are used to see geographical names as a GIs-- this is the tradition. However, non-geographical names can be protected as well if they are linked to a particular place – here will be to either Recife( city) or Pernambuco (state). A good example would be Feta as a GI for cheese. Porto Digital is (so it seems) a reputable centre for Information and Communication - it is a technology cluster as it is for example, the ‘Silicon valley’ (California for computer technology) and more appealing to me, ‘Antwerp’ (yep! The diamond centre). Now we have a new one to know of: ‘Proto Digital’ for services in the creative economy.

Wednesday, 14 November 2012

Yesterday morning we had an announcement from the Brazilian Instituto Nacional da Propriedade Indutrial (INPI)... the grant of a
Geographical Indication (GI) in the form of Indicação de Procedência (indication of Souce) to ‘renda irlandesa de Divina Pastora’ located in Sergipe.

The product is a ‘needle lace’ which is historically linked to Europe. However, its current form reflects the influences of its producers and so, its cultural traditions. The dynamics between the old (knowledge) and the new (world perspective) gives the ‘renda irlandesa de Divina Pastora’ its distinctiveness. ‘Renda irlandesa’ can have several uses from being part f a dress or just be a dress, to be used as a decoration for houses and ceremonies.

‘Renda irlandesa de Divina Pastora’ has already being recognised as a Brazilian cultural heritage and is also included in the ‘book of knowledge’. INPI informed that the producers have now 60 days to pay the correspondent fee and thus, finishing with the formalities of any GI application and registration. This is the first GI for Sergipe.

Wednesday, 7 November 2012

We received an invitation from Dr Valentina Vadi,a Marie Curie postdoctoral Fellow of the Faculty of Law at Maastricht Universit, for a conference on ‘Art and Heritage Disputes’ to be held at Maastricht University on 24-27 March 2013. The invitation is to everyone who is interested in participating, either presenting a paper or writing an article OR even both!

Abstract(up to 500 words)for consideration should be submitted by 1st December.

The publication reads as follows: “This Special Issue aims to identify, map and critically assess the number of art and heritage disputes which have arisen in the past decades. The return of cultural artifacts to their legitimate owners, the recovery of underwater cultural heritage, the governance of sites of outstanding and universal value, the protection and promotion of artistic expressions, and the protection of cultural sites in time of war are just some of the issues which have given rise to art and heritage related disputes.”

Thursday, 25 October 2012

While the choice of contrasting text size and colours for the title, subtitle and contents of WIPO media releases is welcome, the text is often uniformly dull and formal, sometimes to the extent that you can't easily see what it's all about. IP Tango readers should use their charm and talent to persuade WIPO to come up with something prettier, and more user-friendly. Meanwhile, today'smedia release, pictured below so you can see what it looks and reads like, is good news for plant protection people:

UPOV Notification No. 114International Convention for the Protection of New Varieties of Plants

Accession by the Republic of Panama to the 1991 Act

The Secretary-General of the International Union for the Protection of New Varieties of Plants (UPOV) presents his compliments and has the honor to notify the deposit by the Government of the Republic of Panama, on October 22, 2012, of its instrument of accession to the International Convention for the Protection of New Varieties of Plants of December 2, 1961, as revised at Geneva on November 10, 1972, on October 23, 1978, and on March 19, 1991.

The said International Convention as revised in 1991 will enter into force, with respect to the Republic of Panama, on November 22, 2012.

Friday, 19 October 2012

The Brazilian President, Dilma Rousseff, has signed three agreements with the British Prime Minister, David Cameron. The agreements are to seek cooperation between the countries in areas of: science, technology and innovation. Specifically the Brazilian government web page identifies that the agreements will “provide for an increase in the number of students sent to the United Kingdom through the Science without Borders program”.

In the meeting the Brazilian President noted the importance of these agreements to “improve the competitiveness of the Brazilian economy and, of course, the British economy”. David Cameron announced that through these agreements the UK will “facilitate opportunities for Brazilian scientists to benefit from world-class universities in the United Kingdom”.

It appears that cooperation agreements seem to be the new trend for Latin American countries. This week we posted cooperation agreements signed by Peru with three different countries. In August this year, INPI also signed an agreement with their counterpart in China; and there was other one this year, that between China and Chile. In 2011, INPI signed with the European Patent Office an agreement aiming to carry out joint activities on topics related to patents (EPO media release April 2012 but announced here in this blog in September 2011). Colombia and Spain also signed a cooperation agreement related to IP in 2011. In 2010, INPI also signed with the Korean Intellectual Property Office an agreement related to just green patents. And...I am sure I am missing many more...feel free to post them in the comments box.

Now.. you may question: what do science, technology and innovation have to do with IP? There is indeed the need of adequate protection for certain types of works and creations. Moreover, IP is very much connected with the commercial returns; licensing; keeping certain research or information from been disseminated; and the like. IP involves not only economic rewards but also moral rights as well as social development.

In this regards, I do invite you to read a post in theIPKat blog written by blogmeister Jeremy named “The Truth, from Ruth: students want more IP teaching”. According to a survey run by the UK National Union of Students (NUS) and the Intellectual Property Awareness Network (IPAN) “Most students believe that the way they are taught about intellectual property (IP) does not equip them for their future careers”. Generally the survey shows that students recognise the importance of understanding IP for their future careers. It is vital therefore than scientists and the students and workers who are involve in innovation see that there exist a link between IP and their potential commercial success.

Thursday, 18 October 2012

The Peruvian Institute for the Defense of Competition and Intellectual Property Protection (INDECOPI) informs in its website that it has signed three cooperation agreements related to the promotion and development of intellectual property.

China, Mexico and the Dominican Republic where the parties involved in three separate but not so quite different agreements signed by INDECOPI. The cooperation agreements are all based on the goal of strengthening the system of protection of intellectual property as follows:

CHINA: to commit in the “exchange of information, views and information about the latest developments of the IP system and important issues of common interest, such as traditional knowledge and issues related to genetic resources, among others.”

MEXICO: to create “greater cooperation at the level of experts in science and technology as well as training opportunities for both institutions.”

DOMINICAN REPUBLIC: to expand “studies and research projects on topics of common interest”. Also they are looking to “promote the use of intellectual property records”; among other matters.

Encouraging scientific, technical progress and activities which result from cooperation between countries (in this case their national institutes of intellectual property) has indeed reciprocal advantages. Mutual cooperation agreements prepare and develop not only the IP system but also the economy of a country as well as enforce alliance among nations.

Wednesday, 10 October 2012

Danny G Perez y Soto from B&R Latin America, an intellectual property legal services company, informs us of the forthcoming conference titled: ‘The State of IP in Latin America’. The forum is a joint invitation from B&R Latin America and the Colombo American Chamber of Commerce (AMCHAM). The event will take place at the AMCHAM Headquarters in Bogotá, Colombia on Monday 22nd October 2012 (it is free, though you need to confirm attendance (more info here)).

As expected the event will give you an opportunity of getting aware of the “framework and the trends relevant to properly understand the state of trademarks, patent and R&D management”. The event will launch a book in which the iptango blog has been used as one of the many sources. [Many thanks, nice to hear than someone is following the blog and moreover using it as a reliable source].

In 2001 the economist Jim O'Neill came with the term BRIC in a study related to global economy. The acronym BRIC represented the 4 countries which at the time were considered to be of same newly advanced economic development: i.e. of Brazil, Russia, India and China. However, in 2011 in the third summit meeting, BRIC was known as BRICS as to represent the addition of South Africa.

The now established BRICS met this week during the General Assembly of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO). Representatives from all 5 countries got together to discuss a new goal: “to expand the cooperation between the countries in the area of IP.” The meeting which took place in Geneva, Switzerland was attended and supported by the Director General of WIPO, Francis Gurry, and it is said to “generate cooperation actions and periodic seminars for discussion of issues of common interest.”

Friday, 28 September 2012

The most recent issue of the World Intellectual Property Organization's WIPO Magazine includes an article, "Costa Rica builds respect for IP rights", by Catherine Jewell (Communications Division, WIPO). This article, which focuses on the activities and likely future significance of the country's Administrative Registration Tribunal, is a bit of a panegyric. This blogger hopes that both the present and the future are as rosy as the article suggests, but wonders whether readers of this weblog can confirm that confidence in Costa Rica's IP system is truly on the increase.

Monday, 24 September 2012

"Two Key Laws For The Public Domain Fare Differently In Argentine Congress" is the title of a recent post on Intellectual Property Watch by Maximiliano Marzetti. It provides comment on two legislative proposals that would relax the country's very low degree of official tolerance of fair use with regard to copyright-protected works (indeed, Argentina's laws extend even beyond the normal copyright term via the domaine public payant).

Sunday, 23 September 2012

By Budapest Notification No. 288 "Budapest Treaty on the International Recognition of the Deposit of Microorganisms for the Purposes of Patent Procedure", WIPO announces that it has received a communication from the Government of the Republic of Chile relating to changes in the schedule of fees of the Colección Chilena de Recursos Genéticos Microbianos (CChRGM). The CChRGM is an international depositary authority under the Budapest Treaty on the International Recognition of the Deposit of Microorganisms for the Purposes of Patent Procedure. The gist of the announcement is this:

According to Rule 12.2(c) of the Regulations under the Budapest Treaty, the new fees set forth in the said communication shall take effect on October 20, 2012, that is the thirtieth day following the publication of the changes by the International Bureau.

Schedule of Fees Chilean pesos ($CL)

Storage of each strain (during 30 years) 425.000

Issue of viability report 45.000

Supply of a sample 60.000

Communication of information 15.000

Note: The amounts do not take into account the dispatch costs and additional costs within Chile.
September 20, 2012.